October 12, 2011

No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger News and Notes • This Week’s Charger… The No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger team will race chassis PRS-802 during Saturday’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (CMS). This is a brand-new chassis to the No. 2 fleet. • No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge in 2011... After 30 points-paying events, Keselowski and the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger team are ranked fourth in the 2011 Chase for the Championship standings. Keselowski is just 11 points behind leader Carl Edwards following a third-place finish in the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway last Sunday. • Recent CMS Pole Winner… Keselowski picked up his second career NASCAR Cup Series pole position during qualifying for the Coca-Cola 600 at CMS on May 26 by recording a lap of 28.112 seconds, or 192.089 miles per hour, around the Concord, N.C. oval. • Chasing Top-Five Finishes… Keselowski is one of two Chase drivers to record top-five finishes in three of the first four races of the 2011 playoff format. • Triple Hops Brewed In N.C.… The featured tag line on the bumper of the “Blue Deuce” this weekend at Charlotte will be “Triple Hops Brewed in N.C. recognizing Miller Lite’s local ties.” MillerCoors operates a brewery in Eden, N.C. where multiple Miller Lite products are brewed and packaged. • Deuces Wild… When Brad wins a race during the 2011 Chase for the Championship, two lucky fans will win their own “man cave,” compliments of Miller Lite. The man cave gear includes a “kegerator,” dart board, Miller Lite neon sign, basketball game and pub furniture. Visit MillerLite.com/Brad to enter. • The Rest is History... Penske Racing made its first start in the annual 500-mile fall race at CMS on October 8, 1972 with Dave Marcis behind the wheel of the famous Penske Racing No. 2 car. In 91 combined starts, Penske Racing drivers have recorded one win, eight poles, 14 top-five and 31 top-10 finishes at the 1.5-mile Charlotte oval.

Brad Keselowski on this weekend’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway“Charlotte is definitely a track that I am looking forward to going back to, especially now that the Miller Lite Dodge team is in the hunt for the championship. It was a place that I struggled to get a grip on during my early trips, but last year (crew chief) Paul (Wolfe) and I picked up a win in the Nationwide Series there and it seemed like a light went off for me. After winning the pole for the 600 in May, I felt we were one of the cars to beat. We put ourselves in position at the end of the race and just had nowhere to go when the 4 car ran out of gas. We just ran right into the back of him. That killed our chances for the win, but we know that we can run up front and lead laps there. I’m confident.”

Brad Keselowski on his third top-five finish in four Chase races“It takes consistency to win the championship and we have consistently had fast cars at every race in the Chase. We’re executing very well as a group and as a team. The things that we can control, we’re doing very well. Obviously we’d like to have Dover back because there are some ‘wild-card’ races coming up where you would like to have an ace-in-the-hole, like Talladega, Martinsville and Phoenix. Anything can happen at those tracks. But to have the consistency we’ve had to start the Chase has been great. We’ll need to pick up a win or two before Homestead and I’m confident we can do that.”

Crew chief Paul Wolfe on Charlotte Motor Speedway“Charlotte is a race that we’ve had circled since the start of the Chase as a place where we think we can pick up a win. We had a strong run there in May. We feel like we have developed our Charlotte package even more and should have an even better Miller Lite Dodge on Saturday. We know that our cars can win at CMS and everyone here is expecting great things this weekend. We’ve made some great strides, aerodynamically, and our cars are as good as they have ever been for this package.”

Team Penske is one of the most successful teams in the history of professional sports and celebrated its 50th Anniversary during the 2016 season. Dating back to its first race in the 1966 24 Hours of Daytona, cars owned and prepared by Team Penske have produced more than 440 major race wins, over 500 pole positions and 29 National Championships across open-wheel, stock car and sports car racing competition. In its storied history, the team has also earned 16 Indianapolis 500 victories, two Daytona 500 Championships, a Formula 1 win and overall victories in the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. Over 80 drivers have raced for Team Penske over the years.